After The Fall
by Phyripo
Summary: What if Nemesis had mercy on her son and had the winds take Ethan Nakamura somewhere safe?   Somewhere like... Ogygia? Also features: Ethan's arrival at Camp Half-Blood!
1. Ogygia

**A/N This takes places after The Last Olympian, and The Lost Hero _never occurred_! Please enjoy. :D**

* * *

ETHAN NAKAMURA – Ogygia

I fell. That was all I was sure of. I fell and I hurt and I fell. I fell, fell, fell…

And then I was there. If only I knew where exactly 'there' meant. But it surely was beautiful. I woke up in a big, glistening cave, that had walls that kept shifting colors, just depending on how you looked at it, and stalactites that reflected rainbows on the floor. It was a cave like I suspected the old Oracles' caves to look like.  
But instead of the three-legged chair of the Pythia, there were beds and nightstands in the cave, making it look like a nursery. If it _was _a nursery, I was the only patient. All the other beds were empty.

I couldn't quite remember what had happened before, or how I had gotten there, just the falling. I believed Percy Jackson had something to do with it…  
And Kronos..?

Kronos…  
And suddenly, I remembered. I was Ethan Nakamura, son of Nemesis, I had joined the Titans' army and thus given Kronos a body. I had fought on his side, but eventually turned against the Lord of Time and then…  
Falling. Did I fall through the floor of Olympus? That shouldn't be possible, I thought. And if so, how did I get here?

I lay there in the white hospital bed, just trying to figure things out, when I heard footsteps approach from the left, where I suspected the entrance to be. With difficulty, I turned my head that way. After blinking several times, my vision cleared so I could make out a girl with dark hair and a white dress coming my way.  
I decided she might as well be the nurse, seeing this place was some kind of hospital and most hospitals have nurses… Right?

The girl noticed I was awake and smiled at me.  
I tried to say something, but my throat was really dry, so I think it sounded like: 'Ggrrg?'  
The girl stifled a laugh and silently handed me a glass of water. I drank it thankfully. You know how they say you never notice how thirsty you are until you drink something? Well, it's true.  
Soon, my glass was empty, but I was still thirsty, so I tried to ask for some more.  
The girl seemed to understand, but shook her head.

'No?' I croaked.  
'No, brave one,' she said, 'you must not drink too much. That liquid I gave you was not water, as you might have thought, but a very special medicination. You can, however, have some water.'  
I think I managed to smile at her, signaling that I would like that, and she walked away, leaving me to stare at the nearest wall.

It wasn't very long before my 'nurse' came back with a glass in her hands. 'Very well,' she said, while handing it over to me, 'this _is _water. You may drink as much as you want to.'  
I took some sips and thanked her. And, since I was really curious – you couldn't blame me for that – I asked her for her name.

She hesitated.

I took some more sips of the water and looked up at her. Her blue eyes looked sad as she answered: 'My name, brave one, is Calypso.'  
Having studied all my mythology fairly well, I vaguely remembered that name. I believe she was in the Odyssey…

Wait.

'Like in the Calypso Odysseus stayed with for seven years?'  
Calypso sighed. 'Yes, Odysseus has stayed with me, as have many other heroes, the last one being Percy Jackson.'  
'I know Percy,' I said, startled that he had been there.  
Calypso smiled sadly. 'How is he doing now?'

My thoughts drifted to Olympus, and the war in Manhattan.  
'Last I saw him, he… He was doing fine,' I eventually answered.

'Last you saw him? What do you mean?'

I explained the situation in and around Manhattan to her the best I could, and what had happened in Olympus. 'I can only hope they won and everyone is safe.'

Calypso sat down on the bedside and felt my forehead. 'You are recovering very well, brave one. But tell me your name, please.'  
'Ethan. Ethan Nakamura,' I said. I trusted her. I knew of course Odysseus hadn't stayed with Calypso fully by choice, but something about her and the cave made me feel so calm. So…balanced.  
'Well Ethan,' she said, and her eyes locked with my one eye for a split second, but she quickly averted her gaze and resumed speaking. 'Your mother Nemesis, goddess of revenge, had the winds bring you here. She did not tell me your name or anything else, she just wanted me to tell you that she is proud of you and thinks you have proved yourself worthy to live. That means…' Her voice quavered. 'That means your mother will give you back what was taken from you in order to let you live.'

It took me a while to process these words, but it eventually sank in. I touched the eye patch over my left eye and Calypso nodded. She handed me a drink again and motioned for me to drink the pale green liquid. I did.  
And then…I fell asleep.

I woke up to the sound of glass shattering on the floor and I opened my eyes quickly to… Wait, eyes? I blinked multiple times and looked around in wonder.  
The drink had worked! I closed my eyes again and sent a prayer to my mother to thank her. I didn't know if she heard me, but it felt right.  
When I opened my eyes, Calypso was standing by my bed, smiling slightly. But as soon as I turned my gaze towards her, the smile fell from her face and was replaced by a sad expression, like she did not want me to see her smile.

'It worked,' the dark-haired girl stated.  
'It worked,' I confirmed happily.  
'And now,' she said, 'you will want to see the whole world all over again and you will leave me and my island Ogygia. Like everyone did.'

She looked so incredibly sad while saying this, that I just wanted to take her in my arms and soothe her. But she wouldn't let me, I could tell.  
So instead, I told her: 'I haven't got anything to go back for. I might as well stay here.'  
'You will not stay, I know that. I am not destines to be happy.'  
'Everyone deserves to be happy,' I argued.  
'Everyone, but not me,' Calypso sighed. 'You can stay here until you are fully healed, but after that you will have to leave immediately, before I get the chance to get too close to you.'  
I was silent.  
'Sorry,' whispered Calypso, and she walked away.

After what seemed like hours, but may also have been minutes, or days, I don't know, Calypso came to give me some fruit.  
She left immediately.

I can't say I didn't understand why she acted the way she did – she just wanted to keep herself, and me, from getting hurt – but that does not mean I liked it.  
The time passed quickly and as I started to take little strolls around Ogygia, sometimes accompanied by an invisible servant of my hostess, I couldn't help but noticing how beautiful Calypso was.  
She had this kind of serenity over her features, as if she had peace with the punishment the gods had given her. Still, seeing her there, banished from the outside world and cursed never to have a lucky – love – life, made me believe in Luke Castellan's words all over again: 'The gods are cruel, they have never cared and will never care about us.'

This was cruel, the girl hadn't done anything wrong, now had she? I couldn't exactly remember why in Hades she was banished to Ogygia, but I was sure it wasn't _her_ fault.

Anyway, we barely spoke and whenever our eyes would meet, she'd look away directly. I felt truly bad for her.

Eventually the day had come that Calypso walked up to me and said: 'Ethan, there is a question I have asked all heroes that stayed here. And while I know what your reply will be, I am going to ask you as well: Will you stay with me?'  
'Calypso,' I said, and I looked her in the eyes, 'I can't stay here, only to be ignored by you out of fear of me leaving anyway. If you had asked me a while ago, after I had just arrived on the isle, I would've said yes. You have created this situation yourself.'  
She closed her eyes and bowed her head. 'If you say so, brave one,' she whispered.  
'I'm sorry, Calypso.'  
'Maybe,' the girl said. And with that, she walked away and left me standing in the middle of a field of pink-and-white flowers.

What just happened?

I stood there as the sun set and a crescent moon became visible in the night sky. And the stars, of course. I had been there for quite some time now, and the stars I saw on the firmament never ceased to amaze me. There were so many, it was almost surreal.  
I couldn't believe I had spent so much time of my young life underground while looking at the constellations and trying to count the enormous amount of stars.

And I almost couldn't remember why I had spent the time underground like I did.

But it was revenge. My fatal flaw. Revenge, holding grudges.  
Apparently, that was the fatal flaw of Hades's son too. He'd almost fought on the Titans' side because of a grudge.  
But I wasn't any better, was I?  
I just hoped my mother was right, and I _did_ deserve to live.

One morning, I was just sitting on one of the marble benches on the island, looking out over the gardens in which Calypso was busy working with a lightning-blue plant.  
Maybe it is a _lightning_ plant, I thought, for it seems to give off sparks that looked like tiny lightning bolts.

'You're absolutely right,' said a cheery voice from behind me, where the hospital cave was – I lived there now, 'that _is_ a lightning plant. It only grows here and Zeus rather likes those plants. Maybe I should take one with me for him.'  
I turned on the bench to face a young man with sparkly blue eyes and a huge smile on his face.  
'Yeah, I should do that. I'm sure he'd like that.' Judging by his appearance, the man was not a patient in the cave-hospital – he looked way too healthy for that, and it was a weird thought either way; I would have noticed another patient.

So I did what everyone would do: I asked him who he was.  
'Why I'm Apollo of course!' he exclaimed, causing Calypso to look up from her plant and, apparently, to get shocked by it.  
She hastily put the plant away and walked over to where Apollo and I were. The girl sadly smiled at me and bowed to the sun god. 'Lord Apollo,' she said, 'what an honor.'  
The god's smile got even wider, if that was possible.  
Suddenly, I was eager for news from the outside world.

'Lord Apollo,' I said awkwardly – it felt so weird to call someone that young "Lord" ,'could you please tell me what happened in Olympus after… After I fell?'

The sun god sat down next to me and motioned for Calypso to sit on his other side. She didn't.  
'Oh well,' said Apollo, 'it has all ended fairly well. It's been two months since you came here, and the mortals have already forgotten the whole incident. After you fell, Ethan, Luke Castellan killed Kronos and thus saved Olympus… Percy Jackson was offered immortality but he refused. Hades, Hestia and the minor gods were granted seats of power in Olympus, new cabins are being built at Camp Half-Blood, and Athena's daughter Annabeth Chase is designing a new Olympus with lots of statues of me!'

The only thing I said was: 'Whoa.'

'But,' he continued,' if you come with me now, you can see all that by yourself!'

'Whoaaaaa.'  
'That's what I thought. We're leaving tonight. I just hope the sun doesn't crash in the meantime…'  
'Sun?' I asked, not completely comprehending whatever he had said.  
'Yeah, I set it on auto-pilot, but that feature has just been updated, so I hope it works correctly,' the god babbled. 'Oh hey Calypso, could you get me a lightning plant for my father, dear?'  
Calypso walked away.

It took me until noon to fully realize the meaning of Apollo's words: I would be leaving Ogygia this evening, provided the sun did not crash. As soon as this sank in, I began searching th island for my hostess.  
It was not until the sun was already setting – I just hoped it was setting, and not crashing – that I found her sitting in the midst of a field of grey, crumpled flowers. She looked sadder than I had ever seen her, but you couldn't blame her for that, I guess.  
She gave no sign of hearing or seeing me, so I walked over and stood in front of her.

'Calypso?' I asked.  
Cradling one of the plants in her hands, she looked up. 'You must go, brave one,' she said. 'Your destiny is not here. Mine is. I am sure our Fates are not intertwined.' I looked at her as she sat there.

Just a girl.

Life is cruel.

She rose from the ground, wiped the dirt off her long blue dress and handed me the grey plant she had been holding.  
'Uhm, thanks?' I said clumsily.  
'This plant is not dead, nor very ugly, as you might think,' Calypso told me. 'It is a special plant. It will only bloom at full moon. Take good care of it, and think of me whenever you see this plant. And please give Percy Jackson my regards, brave one.'  
I nodded, though I doubted if I was really a "brave one", like she kept calling me.

'Very well!' Apollo's voice boomed from behind me. 'It's time to go, young hero!'  
Hero?  
'I guess so,' I said. Calypso turned her gaze to the ground.  
'I'm sorry for you, Calypso,' I told her, 'I hope one day the gods will decide you've had enough punishment, and they will let you find real love.'  
'Me too,' she whispered, her voice barely audible.

'Thanks for the plant, dear!' Apollo beamed happily.  
Calypso walked away.  
'How terribly _rude_ of her!' grumbled the sun god.  
'Don't blame Calypso, her life isn't exactly easy.'  
'I guess. But let us go, my car is waiting!'

And with a last look over my shoulder, I stepped into the sun…car…  
As we crossed the sky at an unimaginable speed, the only image on my mind was Calypso sitting on a huge pile of boulders.

And she was crying.

* * *

**A/N O gods I gave him his eye. Maybe I shouldn't have done that. I wasn't planning on...**

** I have a question. I have a second chapter for this already written, and if I publish that one, it will be the last, but should I? It's about Ethan arriving at Camp Half-Blood and it has some Ethan/Rachel in it. C:**  
**Could you tell me if I should publish it? Or would it ruin the story? Or maybe I should publish it as a sequel?**

**Please help me! **  
**~Phyripo **


	2. Camp HalfBlood

**A/N It's another chapter! Yay, I'm proud of myself. :D I was planning on making this a sequel, then I wanted to make it a whole new story, but in the end I went with just adding a chapter. I want to apologize in advance for any grammar mistakes I may have made, but English is not my native language. :C Also I may have used American and British spelling a little inconveniently, but I can't bother changing everything. _Also, _I don't own Percy Jackson and his friends. In any way. Enjoy! :D**

RACHEL ELIZABETH DARE – Camp Half-Blood

It had been two months since the battle for New York, so that means two months since I'd become the Oracle as well. I was still not fully used to it - if I would ever be - and I had just given two prophecies in the time I had this 'job'. These, apparently, included the next Great Prophecy. I couldn't say for sure though, since I would never remember any of it.

In any way, I had a week off school and decided to spend it at Camp Half-Blood with my friends. They eventually had let me pass the borders, after someone managed to convince Mr. D that I _was _indeed the Oracle. One morning, I was just hanging around by the canoe lake with Annabeth and Percy. The sun hadn't even come up yet, but Annabeth was sure it was going to be a hot day. She then proceeded to explain about humidity grades or something, but I wasn't really paying attention.  
There was a feeling in my gut that I couldn't quite place. It was like I was nervous, but I didn't have anything to be nervous for, so it was kind of unsettling.  
My blond-headed friend noticed my slight discomfort. I'm happy we became friends, after all. Annabeth picks up on things easily.

'What's wrong, Rachel?'  
'I have this feeling,' I said, 'that something is going to happen.'

'Maybe it's your Oracle-ness,' Percy butted in.  
'That isn't even a word, Seaweed Brain.'  
'It is now, _Wise Girl_.'  
'You can't just make words like that!'  
'Oh but I can.'  
'Oh no you—'

'Guys! Stop it!' I shouted. Even though they were now dating, they still continued their bickering habits. 'This is important! Something is going to take place today! Stop bickering for two seconds to help me try to figure out what to do!'

'Okay,' said Annabeth, 'you're right, Rachel. Sorry.' She suggested that I should go see Chiron to ask him what he thought about it. Good idea. I was standing up when the son of Hades popped up out of nowhere, scaring me half to death. Pun intended.  
'Hey,' said Nico casually, as if he had just happened to walk by, not, like, formed out of the shadows or something. Percy stood up from his spot by the side of the lake to go greet his almost-thirteen-year-old cousin.  
Annabeth looked at me. 'Maybe _that_ was going to happen?'  
I shook my head. 'The feeling is still there.'  
She sighed. 'That must be frustrating.'  
'It is, Annabeth.' We sat in silence for some time, while Percy and Nico talked about something I didn't even want to know. I tried to get a hold of that thought at the very back at my consciousness that said what exactly should occur today that was so important, but I couldn't reach it.

Suddenly Nico's voice came from behind me. 'So something will happen?' I bent my head backwards to look at the boy. 'Hm.'  
He frowned, which looked funny upside down. 'And you don't know wha—  
'DOWN!' I yelled, without really knowing why. Nico and Percy ducked, just in time to not get hit by a large fireball soaring over our heads. The thing – whatever it was – made a crash landing next to the lake, setting a large amount of trees on fire.  
'WHOA!' yelled Percy, and he made a giant wave come out of the lake to extinguish the flames. Nico just frowned.  
Annabeth and I got up and jogged over to the thing, that made a deep, smoking hole in the ground. The boys followed suit.  
Percy was the first to recognize it. 'That's Apollo's car!' he exclaimed. I now saw that it was the sun car, too. I should know, Apollo came to pick me up from school this Friday. The girls from my class were so jealous, but really, an hour alone with the sun god wasn't something I would recommend.  
We didn't dare going any closer, because the heat was simply too much. 'That does explain why it was so hot,' Annabeth mumbled under her breath. I chuckled.

The car door burst open and a handsome young man jumped out, not at all bothered by the heat. We all recognized him to be the sun god. He happily waved at us, apparently not caring that his car had almost burned down the forest. 'Hi to all! I should've known to not let that boy drive, after what happened last time.'  
'Oh,' said Nico, 'I was already starting to think someone let Thalia near that thing again.'  
'No!' Apollo exclaimed. 'It was someone else this time.' He looked at the door and shouted: 'Come out!' He also didn't neglect to add that we weren't going to eat whoever was in there. After some time a boy with raven hair, about eighteen years old, climbed out of the car, looking at the ground awkwardly. 'Come on young hero,' Apollo said. 'Cheer up and greet your new friends. Who knows, you might even get a girlfriend!' And with that, he saluted Percy and Annabeth, winked at me, patted the boy on his shoulder and jumped into his car again, setting off to light the sky.

'Well...' Nico said.  
'That was awkward,' Percy finished.  
'Yep.'

I walked over to the boy, who was just standing there, like he was trying to be invisible. I couldn't shake the feeling that I had seen him before, but I couldn't figure where or when that should have been. 'Eehm, hi,' I said. He looked at me, and I noticed he had very dark eyes that looked slightly Asian. 'I'm Rachel Elizabeth Dare. You can call me Rachel.' I extended my hand. The boy scanned me up and down, from my flip-flops to the flower in my hair, apparently decided I wasn't some kind of monster and timidly shook my hand. Not at all ADHD, like so many other demigods. 'Rachel. I'm Ethan.' I frowned, believing that I had heard that name before but again, not being able to place it.  
'Ethan Nakamura, son of Nemesis. You can call me Ethan.' He let go of my hand.  
'Ethan. Alright. Have we, by any chance, met before?' I asked.  
The demigod opened his mouth to answer, but Percy decided to come by that exact moment. 'Hi! I'm Perc- Are you who I think you are?' Ethan looked at him awkwardly. 'Maybe... That depends on who you think I am.'  
'Yeah, of course. Ethan Nakamura?'  
The boy nodded. Percy frowned, like he didn't know what to do. Annabeth and Nico walked over to where we were. Ethan looked down when he saw Annabeth. She looked at Percy, who put his hand over his left eye and pointed at Ethan. The daughter of Athena nodded in understanding, and suddenly I remembered where I had seen this boy before: In the Labyrinth, when he had joined Kronos.  
'You kinda... Are supposed to be dead, you know?' said Percy. Ethan looked at him. 'I know. Maybe that would've been better, after all.'

'What? No, no! I didn't mean it like that! You died a hero! No wait, you didn't die. You _are _a hero.'  
Nico smiled slightly. 'That explains why I couldn't find you in the Underworld. I thought you were just hiding from me or something.'  
'U-underworld?'  
'Oh. Oh yeah. Hi, I'm Nico di Angelo, son of Hades.' Ethan's eyes lit up in understanding.  
Annabeth's turn to say something. 'Hello Ethan. I suppose you r-remember me... I've forgiven you, if you want to know. P-Percy's right, you are a hero.'  
Ethan looked at her. 'Alright. Thank you, although I think I didn't deserve that.'  
I sighed. 'Come on, enough with the depressed stuff. We should tell Chiron that you've arrived. Not that we were expecting you, of course. Now that I think about it, maybe I _was_.' Everyone looked at me weirdly. 'I know, I talk too much. Sorry, bad habit. Come on, let's go!'  
I walked in the direction of the Big House, not bothering to look if the others followed.

But they followed. 'Hey Ethan,' I heard Percy ask, 'where have you been? And... Didn't you have an eyepatch before?'  
It was quiet for some time. I looked behind me to see the son of Poseidon survey Ethan's clothing - some wide pants and a white linen shirt. 'Calypso?' he asked eventually. I put my eyes on the ground again.  
'Yes,' was Ethan's simple reply. 'Calypso.'  
'She should've been freed by now!' said Percy, sounding upset.  
'Maybe they couldn't find her,' Nico called from behind him. I smiled. The son of Hades had gotten a little happier after the war, now that he actually had _living _friends and a cabin to stay in. Percy, however, was not amused. 'That's _not _funny, Nico! The Olympians agreed to free the innocent Titans, like Calypso! She shouldn't be imprisoned anymore!'  
'Well, that's the gods for ya,' said Nico, and he didn't sound so happy this time.  
Ethan snorted, but kept his mouth shut.

After telling Chiron that the son of Nemesis had arrived, and some yelling at Mr D that his name wasn't Ernie and Percy's name wasn't Bert, we decided that we would show Ethan to his cabin. The Nemesis cabin - a dark metal cabin with a sign of a balance and a sword over the double doors - had been empty until now. Inside, everything appeared to be exactly symmetrical. I guess to balance things out. Ethan flopped down on one of the beds and looked around.

'So,' said Percy, 'I guess you'll be a year-rounder, right? Or do you have family you can go to?'  
Ethan shifted on the bed uneasily. 'Well, I suppose I could go to my father. If he wants me.'  
'If... Yeah, okay. I should... I, erm, I have to go. Come on Annabeth, let's go.'  
Annabeth raised her eyebrows at her boyfriend's sudden change in behaviour, but after waving at us and wishing Ethan good luck, followed him out of the cabin.  
Nico frowned. 'What was that about?'  
'No idea,' I answered.  
'Alright... You know, I should be going now, I have some training to do with the Hephaestus cabin. They're teaching me how to use traps and stuff. Bye.' And he ran into a shadow and disappeared.

The only person left in the cabin - besides me - blinked, confused. 'Does he always do that?'  
'Pretty much,' I smiled. 'Hey, do you want me to show you around camp? It's not that I know _that _much about it, I mean, I'm not even a demigod, but it could still be useful.'  
'I was here before,' Ethan answered, 'in the Hermes cabin, but a lot has chang-' He seemed to register something. 'What do you mean you're not a demigod? I thought you were a daughter of Apollo or maybe Demeter or something. How did you get in, if you aren't a half-blood?'  
I told him I was the Oracle of Delphi - well, of Long Island actually, but whatever - and was thus allowed to enter camp. 'If,' I said, 'the campers convince Mr D I _am_ the Oracle. He somehow just refuses to take notice.'  
'Ah. So... Show me around?'

Over the course of the day, I found that Ethan was actually good company, and he had some sort of shrewd humour that I really enjoyed. We had a good time together, and by the time the dinner horn sounded, we just were... Friends, I guess. We just had this inexplicable "click", although we were very different at first sight.  
During dinner, I sat with the Apollo cabin, because they didn't want me to feel lonely. Like the demigods, I wasn't allowed to sit at another table, but I would've gladly taken a seat at the Nemesis table where my new friend was sitting all alone, looking rather lonely. He got some looks from the other half-bloods, but not that many; the campers were used to new demigods arriving everyday, and I don't think anyone recognized Ethan without his eye patch.  
The most looks the boy got were from girls, I noticed. And then I wondered why I even cared. Because I did. I cared way too much.

But you can't possibly fall in love with someone you haven't even known for one day, can you?  
Even not if you're the Oracle?

Rachel, I scolded myself silently, enough. This was exactly what I was scared of. I'm not _allowed _to date. I _cannot _fall in love with... _Anyone.  
_Enough.

* * *

After dinner, I tried to stay away from Ethan, but he found me eventually, just before the camp fire.  
'Hey Rachel,' he said, and he smiled a half-smile, 'where have you been?'  
I didn't answer, instead shuffled my foot in the sand.  
'Rachel?'  
I walked away, hoping I hadn't hurt him. Too much.

The campfire was nothing exceptional. I know Ethan kept looking at me, but I avoided his gaze. Until he sat down next to me and grabbed my arm.  
'Rachel, I don't know why you act like this,' he started, 'if it's normal for you or not, but if I bother you, will you tell me already?'  
This was the strongest emotion I'd seen from him until now. He never laughed out loud, I had discovered. He also hardly ever raised his voice. Until now.  
'It's not you, it's me.' I stopped myself. 'Did I just say that?'  
He smiled. 'You did. But, seriously, do you want me to leave you alone or something? Because I suppose I could find a lot of other people around here to hang out with...'  
'No, no! It's... Well, it's complicated. Let's just forget it and sing along with the songs, alright?'  
Ethan looked at me, flames reflecting in his eyes. But it didn't look scary, somehow. He bent over to me and whispered: 'But I don't know the lyrics.'  
'Half the camp doesn't. Make your own!' He was close. Too close for my Oracle-ness. I slowly backed away and said: 'Sorry, I have to go. Enjoy the fire.'

He didn't respond and just sat there dumbfounded as I made my way to the new Oracle-cabin in the woods. There wasn't a cave around for me to live in, like Apollo suggested, but the Cyclopes built a beautiful wooden cabin for me on a clearing that, may I add, wasn't used in Capture The Flag. It was supposed to be safe.  
But of course when I was walking through the forest, I heard a sound come from behind me. It sounded too big to be a squirrel. Or a dog. Or a human, for that matter.

Okay, there was something huge following me. I began walking faster, hoping to escape whatever monster was after me. But night was falling and I tripped. You guessed it. I scrambled back to my feet, but too slow. Something poked in my back and fell down again. I turned, so I was sitting on my butt and began to back away from the monster. But it was faster and neared me with ease.  
The monster was an enormous snake-like something with a weird antenna on its chin - which had poked me before - and only one eye. The eye was staring at me greedily, and I put the only option I had left in motion: I screamed my head off, hoping someone would hear. Why did they have to build my cabin so deep in the woods? It's not _safe, _for Apollo's sake!

O yeah, monster. It opened its mouth, to eat me I suppose, but then something black jumped out of a tree and onto the beast's back. That distracted it enough for me to get away, and into my cabin. I quickly scanned the room for anything that could be used as a weapon. I found some empty Coke bottles and kitchen knife.  
Alright, note to self: Keep more weapons in your cabin, Rachel! It's in the middle of the forest, gods dammit! End of note.  
Outside, the person in black - because it was clearly human - was still on the monster's back. The monster was shaking its ugly head to get them off, but it didn't work. The person had found perfect balance. Then both saw me.  
'Rachel! Go back inside!' I recognized the voice. Oh no.  
'Ethan? What are you doing here?'  
'I could ask you the same!'  
'I _live _here, you know. And I have a knife, so come here!'  
He yelled at me that I should distract the monster, so I threw some Coke bottles at it. Ethan jumped off while it was distracted, and reappeared next to me seconds later, trying to catch his breath.

The monster slithered towards us slowly, like it wanted to see the terror in our eyes or something - okay, this doesn't make it any better.  
'The tree,' Ethan whispered in my ear. Then he grabbed my arm again and dragged me to a large tree. He began climbing it swiftly and I followed with a sigh.

'Okay,' I asked when we were high enough - I didn't think the monster could climb trees - 'what do we do?'  
'_You_,' he said, 'give me that knife you were talking about and then you stay here, while I try to kill that... That thing.' He looked down. 'What kind of monster is that even?'  
'Maybe a new species?' I thought aloud.  
'Is that even possible- Nevermind, give me the knife.'  
I handed him the kitchen knife. 'But hey, I want to help!' But he had already jumped down. '_Gods_!' And I began climbing down the stem of the tree.  
Ethan was strong, that's for sure. That stay on Calypso's island did help, I guess. But he was by no means strong enough to defeat the stupid monster all alone. So I picked up some sharp tree branch and neared the _battlefield_, so to say.

The monster was entirely focused on the son of Nemesis, so I went unnoticed, until I stabbed it in its big eye.  
'Eeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwww!' I screamed when a yellow substance came out of the eye. Unfortunately, that only made the monster more angry.  
Now completely blind, the snake-whatever was just randomly wiping things away with its tail. Ethan couldn't see me, but he had heard me and yelled from the other side of the monster: 'Rachel, you try to stab it between its scales there! I'll do the same here.'  
I yelled back my approval and he counted to three. On three, I lunged forward to attack the monster, but I tripped again and rolled underneath it. I still saw chance to stab it, however, and the monster began to dissolve. Too late, I realized the scale wasn't disappearing and it would crush me. I heard Ethan call my name, but I was afraid to call back, don't ask me why.  
The monster had almost fully dissolved and I was wondering what the camp would tell my parents about my death, when a blur of black shot underneath the scales, grabbed me, and rolled out on the other side.

Ethan.

I should've known, shouldn't I? What with being the Oracle and all?  
Oh well.  
The scale hit the ground with a dry _thud _and then it was silent, except for the breathing of two people. It was only then that I realized our awkward position; I was on top of Ethan, whose arms were still tightly holding on to me. We looked at each other, and I think I saw him blush before releasing me.

We sat up, facing one another.  
'I'm sorry for not listening,' I said.  
'Nevermind,' the demigod answered, 'it worked out in the end, didn't it?'  
'Hm.'  
And then he laughed. He really laughed out loud. I have to say, it was a wonderful sound to hear at that moment. I didn't care why he was laughing, if he was laughing at me or just releasing the stress, I laughed with him.  
When we were done laughing, I made a split second decision - which, I can tell you, are almost always the best decisions - and gave him a peck on the cheek. Ethan looked at me with a funny look. 'What was that for?'  
'For... I don't know, for ignoring you twice?'  
'Good enough.' And he swiftly grabbed my chin and kissed me on the lips. I pulled away, afraid of what would happen. I _was _the Oracle, after all. I _had _to be a maiden girl, and I had to assume "maiden" in Ancient Greece also meant "never been kissed".  
Ethan backed away. 'I'm sorry, I should never have... I mean, we've known each other for not even one day...'

'I've known you longer,' I realized, 'I just never knew. You know, my Oracle-ness? It told me you were coming. This is Fate.'  
He looked astounded.  
'But my Oracle-ness is also a problem, because I have to be a maiden girl, and I guess that's by Ancient Greek terms, so I'm kind of scared of what will happen. But if I hadn't had that problem, I would have... Well...' I was at a loss for words.  
Ethan spoke up again. 'Gods punish quickly. You should have received message by now if Apollo were to curse you or something.'  
'Maybe he forgives me because _I_ didn't, you know... It was you.'  
'Rachel, there's only one way to find that out.'

I leaned over and kissed him. When nothing happened after five seconds, I closed my eyes. He did too. When we broke apart, neither of us said anything for a while. Then I whispered: 'I guess the rules adapted to 21st-century standards.'  
He smiled warmly and kissed me again.


End file.
